Houston Texans defensive end J.J. Watt celebrates after sacking Miami Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill in the third quarter of their Sept. 9 game in Houston.

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Since the NFL started tabulating sacks as an official statistic in 1982, the single-season leader for players who were primarily inside rushers is New Orleans defensive tackle La'Roi Glover.

Glover had 17 sacks in 2000, just ahead of the No. 2 man on that list, Tampa Bay's Warren Sapp, who had 16½ sacks that same season.

This year, there's a major threat to surpass them in that difficult role of fighting through the traffic in the middle of the line to get to the quarterback. J.J. Watt, the former University of Wisconsin standout who is one of the stars of this young NFL season for the unbeaten ...